Help! Dangerous broken glass on Middlewood Way not cleaned up

[marplerambler]

More rubbish/old furniture thrown from Throstle Grove Bridge this morning (Tuesday 16.2.16). Already removed when I returned at 4pm so thank you to the guardian angel who cleared it.

[marplerambler]

Nothing personal at all. The Conservatives made very clear promises to the electorate that the way forward for the country was to reduce the public sector expenditure enabling it to reduce borrowing and keep taxes down and the majority of people in this constituency see this as the way forward and expect the Conservative councillors and MPs to reduce public services and privatise  NHS services to ensure that even though profits will be going to the companies providing these services, the overall cost to the taxpayer will be reduced because changes to the contracts of health workers will result in lower salaries and public service cuts.

I am delighted to hear that funding has been available for cycleways in Cheadle. What you fail to mention is that funding the cycleway from Marple Bridge to Stockport was immediately scrapped when the LibDems/Conservatives came to power. Stockport MBC had already started work on its new cycle route from Marple Bridge to Stockport. a cycleway was built through Brabyns Park incorporating a new cycle route crossing the Peak Forest Canal, a change of the legal status of the public footpath to public bridleway from the canal to Grosvenor Road thus legalising cycle usage, a route using quiet back roads to the end of Hill Top Drive by Marple Hall School. The public footpath from the end of Hilltop Drive to the new bridge to Chadkirk was renovated for cycle/horse usage and upgraded to bridleway and then CHOP LibDem/Conservative government. Funding for renovation of Mill Lane and the Goyt Valley Road cycle link to Lower Bredbury immediately withdrawn and there endeth any hope of a cycle route from Marple to Stockport.

Why not prove that the Conservatives do care for the cyclists of Marple by fighting for reinstatement of the funding for the completion of the cycleway from Marple to Stockport? Why not prove that the Conservatives do care by ensuring that funding is available for adequate permanent full time staff at Brabyns Park, Marple Park and Chadkirk rather than depending upon Big Society volunteers or conscripts to do the work? Manage this and assume responsibility for healthcare, social care, education and transport and the Conservative councillors may just end up holding all six councillor seats in Marple and hold onto the Hazel Grove & Marple constituency.

The Conservatives cannot attempt to push responsibility for cuts in Marple solely onto the shoulders of the LibDems just because there were no Conservative councillors for Marple at the time. Both LibDems and Conservatives were equally culpable for the cuts demanded by Westminster. I am just deeply sorry that the six excellent LibDem councillors we had at the 2010 election did not declare UDI when Andrew Stunell drew up the plans for the coalition.

One point which I am prepared to concede is that the LibDems never seemed to fight particularly hard for the much needed funding of the Middlewood Way. It was pure good luck that planning permission for the new Eastwood Drive estate incorporated a clause requiring the developers to finance a metalled pedestrian/ cycle route from Wood Lane to Rose Hill station so the cost did not fall upon the shoulders of the ratepayers of Marple. 

[CllrKennyBlair]

Just to let everyone know, I have been advised that the rubbish has now been removed from the car park on Middlewood Way. The Council do have one mobile CCTV unit but it is currently being utilised in another fly tipping spot where it happens more frequently. If this fly tipping becomes a recurring problem here, they will move it here. I ask all residents to be vigilant and report anything suspicious.

As for @marplerambler I have never heard so much rubbish in my life. I wasn't going to dignify it with a response but suffice to say, this open space has been neglected for years by the Lib Dem majority controlled Stockport Council, long before the Conservatives came back to Government. They have also been seeking to evade all financial responsibility and blame everything on central government. Politics is the allocation of scarce resources and making choices. The Govt have made choices which will ensure the current and future prosperity of the nation after the mess the Labour Party made of the country. The electorate of the U.K. and Marple clearly agree! Equally, the Lib Dem executive have choices to make with the money they have, there is no endless pot of money. As far as this particular area is concerned, I have been and will continue to campaign to have our parks and greenspaces maintained accordingly. Cutting funding to parks and greenspaces is a false economy and one we will be paying for through the NHS Budget in years to come. The Council also chose to invest Govt money in new cycle paths in Cheadle (£1.2m), when they allegedly cannot afford to maintain what they currently have and thereby reducing their maintenance further. They will tell you there is a difference between Capital and revenue expenditure but what they fail to tell you is that the grant money could have been used to improve / upgrade existing routes. Or they could choose to use some of the vast amounts of money they have in reserve, but they don't mention these! Poor choices and it is the Lib Dems who are the party most responsible for the decimation of Parks and open spaces in Stockport, not the Conservatives.

As for your statement Conservative politicians who seek to evade financial responsibility for maintaining the quality of life in the area may feed you promises but good intentions without financing are worthless, I assume you are talking about me. I have made no promises to anybody regarding this. I am campaigning to have this area improved and pushing the Council to fund accordingly. We are making progress. On the other hand, I could just sit back and accept everything the Lib Dems tell me and fight for nothing. I prefer the first approach.
 

[nipper14]

I see that more rubbish has been tipped in the Wood Lane car park overnight. Obviously the culprits are confident they won't be caught, and will keep on dumping there if they can get away with it. I note SMBC have already been notified of the original flytipping, and will be dealing with it asap.

[marplerambler]

About six or seven years ago, prior to the swingeing LibDem/Conservative cuts, the situation at Wood Lane car park had deteriorated to a point that SMBC installed CCTV cameras monitoring the car park for about three months at a time when Rose Hill tip became stricter about accepting waste from building contractors who were not prepared to pay for disposal and the result was offenders were identified and action by the council against offenders resulted in the solution of the problem.

It is now important that people recognise that this is not just a social problem but is a consequence of a change in the Marple electorate's choice of political representation at both local and national level.

I don't know exactly where responsibility for the Middlewood Way now lies within SMBC but note that the Middlewood Way does not have the legal status of public/adopted highway, it is not a legal right of way and never will be, as the legal status of the route is and will continue to be 'Concessionary Highway' owned by Network Rail but  management and maintenance as a recreational route by SMBC lay in the hands of the Parks & Recreation department and in fact when you cross the border into Disley  there are notices informing the public that the route is 'concessionary'. What does this mean? It means  that Network Rail/TfGM  can use this old railway line as part of the transportation network and reconstruct lines for trains or trams and that there will no longer be pedestrian/horse/cycle rights of access or that the corridor for public access will be narrower.

Prior to Andrew Stunnell's fight for the LibDems coalition with the Conservative Party, the LibDems  fought hard to ensure adequate funding for Parks and concessionary routes such as the Middlewood Way and the section of the Trans Pennine Trail on the old railway track from Tiviot Way to Hollow End. The adoption of a 'cut public expenditure irregardless of the consequences' approach to the financing of Local Authorities, the LibDems enforcement of the Conservative policy of disclaiming responsibility for nothing but minimal financing and the decimation of the budget for Stockport's Parks and Recreation department, the closure of many public toilets and the abandonment of the 'Stockport in Bloom' initiative, a scheme making Stockport a more desirable place to live. We have seen the neglect and destruction of our parks and open spaces due to a LibDem/Conservative policy concerned with nothing but cutting local authority expenditure.

I doubt that there will finances now available for CCTV at Wood Lane due to the decimation of funding for Parks and Recreation and the very last person in the world who could claim to represent the interests of users is a Councillor who represents the political party most responsible for the decimation of Parks and Open Spaces in Stockport.

@Andy I live more or less next door to this car park. I made that very suggestion to Council Officers last Friday while we walked the Middlewood Way to look at improving it. It wasn't met with complete enthusiasm but is something I will pursue as part of the overall improvements to the Middlewood Way. I even offered to be a key holder.

Other than the very welcome one-off construction of a metalled surface between Rose Hill station and Wood Lane (with funding from the developers of the new houses on the old factory site)  prior to the LibDem/Conservative coalition the council has never been very interested in this route in the fifteen years I have have lived here. I also live close to the car park backing onto the Middlewood Way. Dog walkers and joggers arrive at all times between 5am and midnight. The bottom of Woodville Drive already has a parking problem with dog walkers and joggers who do not wish to leave their cars out of site on the car park. If the car park cannot be accessed, those users currently using the car park will block off Wood Lane, Plane Tree Close and Woodville Drive as they do on Sunday mornings when there are events on the playing fields. Installation of a gate will make things even worse for the residents.

At the end of the day you get what you vote for and the Conservative politicians who seek to evade financial responsibility for maintaining the quality of life in the area may feed you promises but good intentions without financing are worthless.
 

[andy+kirsty]

Hi Phil,

We are talking about the same spot, (the one that’s used for drug dealing, hand break turns, illegal dumping of waste, speeding up and down Wood Lane and occasionally parking on!)

I totally see your point about it being useful as an area to park to use the rugby club when their car park isn’t open.

Having had a look this morning I think it would be possible to put a barrier / gate slightly recessed into the car park and still fit two or three cars inform of the gate. There is also some space on the un-adopted part of Wood Lane which would more than accommodate the couple of cars that generally use it during the week / non match days.

I guess there is a balance to be struck between crime prevention, the cost to the public purse and the inconvenience of legitimate users. Clearly the casual users who drive a mile or so won’t understand the issues the place causes when dusk falls.

I have added an image to show what i'm talking about.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Rudolph Hucker]

I think the LA need to put a gate or something on the entrance to the 'car park' part to stop the constant drug dealing, hand break turns etc which goes on. It seems a simple solution, give the rugby club a key so they can open it on Sunday, is serves no useful purpose at any other time of the week. Any thoughts on this?

I can only imagine you're not talking about the 'car park' that is in fact a, car park. Used by myself and others to park cars when making use of the Middlewood Way, or indeed when number 2 child wants to go and kick a rugby ball through posts, very often at times when the Rugby Club are not open....

OK, these days we do tend to cycle down (now said child can be trusted on the roads) but that is not appropriate for all users. So why would you want to restrict or even deter a majority of genuine users of the Middlewood Way 'Car Park' because of a small number of mindless ignoramus?

NB Apologies if you are talking about a different spot!

RH

[andy+kirsty]

Once you factor in the cost of a couple of 'clean ups' perhaps some preventative CCTV and the increased frequency of police patrols putting a gate on would be cost neutral at the very least.

I know a number of neighbours are similarly miffed about the car park as I am, I'll perhaps ask them to raise concerns with the Council to give it the extra nudge.

Thanks
Andy

[CllrKennyBlair]

@Andy I live more or less next door to this car park. I made that very suggestion to Council Officers last Friday while we walked the Middlewood Way to look at improving it. It wasn't met with complete enthusiasm but is something I will pursue as part of the overall improvements to the Middlewood Way. I even offered to be a key holder.

[andy+kirsty]

I hope this doesn't start up again, there was a spate of fly tipping a couple of years ago which I thought was resolved.

@CllrKennyBlair I think you live not too far from me, intact we have exchanged pleasantries once or twice whist dog walking before work, I think the LA need to put a gate or something on the entrance to the 'car park' part to stop the constant drug dealing, hand break turns etc which goes on. It seems a simple solution, give the rugby club a key so they can open it on Sunday, is serves no useful purpose at any other time of the week. Any thoughts on this?

Also, re the rubbish, I don't want to point fingers but on my way home I noticed a load of transit vans and twin axel caravans at the far end of the Wyevale car park - looks like our traveling friends have appeared again.  I could be completely wrong however and happy to be corrected.

[JohnBates]

I have also chased this up @CllrKennyBlair before I noticed your post and have been promised action. Thanks again to @admin for raising this.

[CllrKennyBlair]

Thanks @admin Reported to Council Officer and requested to be removed asap. I have also asked them to go through the rubbish to ascertain if we can identify the individuals involved. If anyone has any information on this, please report it to the Council in order that we can try to stop this mindless dumping!

[admin]

Another one to bring to your attention @CllrKennyBlair

Fly tipped on the Middlewood Way car park at the end of Wood Lane within the last couple of hours.

Reported via council web site: Case Reference is 102286058

Chap living on Plane Tree Close came out and spoke to me when he saw me taking the photos couldn't believe he'd missed seeing them from his window.

There are bags of domestic waste included and I'd suggest going through them for evidence of where it came from. Maybe they are stupid enough to leave something with an address in there.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[CllrGeoffAbell]

Thanks to all those who regularly tidy public spaces.  Please however do be very careful with items like glass or heavy sofas - these should be moved by staff with equipment who are trained to help out here. 
And well done Kenny for getting stuff moving!

I agree, staff attitude was not good, @marplerambler, although they would call others in.

[Lily]

Thank you Mark and CKB for reporting, and pushing, to get the rubbish removed.
It certainly looked an eyesore, and highly dangerous, from your photo's. 

And, also, thanks to all those who pick up the rubbish on a regular basis. 

I just wish that people would take their rubbish home.   

We all know that some dog owners allow their dogs to leave their deposits wherever they do it (you know who you are).  Please clear it up and dispose of it in a suitable bin.  However, if the bins are full then take it home and put it in your own bin - don't leave those little bags hanging from trees or piled up by the side of a bin.  It's disgusting!

There is no excuse for littering of any kind.

Lily